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Editorial

Court fixup is welcome

After years of neglect, municipal courthouse begins renovation

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The city of Columbus last week shook loose the first dollars toward a $90 million renovation of
its neglected, grungy and crowded municipal courthouse. While the project might take 10 years, it’s
good to have it under way.

The public, judges, employees and Franklin County commissioners have been complaining about the
condition of the building for decades.

Repairs to the building at 375 S. High St. have been needed for a long time, but were not easy
to set in motion because the building’s ownership has been contentious since it was built in
1975.

The county chipped in $3.5 million toward the $23.3 million construction cost. Columbus paid off
the rest of the debt through lease payments — about $47 million, including interest. But the city
never gained title, prompting endless bickering over who should pay for renovations.

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman didn’t want to pour money into a building the city didn’t own.
A 2008 deal cleared the way for the overhaul by giving Columbus an option to buy the building in
exchange for vacating a couple of streets that the county wanted. They were no longer of much use
to the city anyway: The county was building a new seven-story Common Pleas courthouse atop
them.

This municipal court building needs a ton of work because it gets hard use by the public, some
of whom are brought in under arrest or who have court dates for drunken driving, domestic abuse,
prostitution or other misdemeanors. Others come to pay traffic tickets.

Municipal Court is called “the people’s court” because it attracts a broad cross-section of
society, many of whom ended up there because they were ill-behaved. Often, they don’t act any
better in the building.

A courthouse should convey dignity to preserve public decorum, but people feel free to show up
wearing cutoff shorts and flip flops. Some have been spotted sleeping, clipping their toenails or
displaying their affection in the hallways, which brim with people.

“Everything from drinks intentionally poured on the floor, to spit on the wall and defecation in
the stairwells have been noted,” a city report said in 1995.

That was the year the air-conditioning system broke; windows didn’t open, so courtroom
temperatures passed 90 degrees. Try telling an angry defendant to “cool it” under those
circumstances.

Elevators referred to as the “demon drop” were repaired in 1999, and the county took over
cleaning in 2008. But the decrepit building does not inspire mannerly behavior. And it’s
uncomfortable for workers.

The city last week approved $1.5 million to hire an architect to convert the building into a
modern courthouse, with windows that don’t leak but instead save energy in the 346,000-square-foot
building.

Among the first and biggest challenges is driving a new elevator shaft, to separately move
prisoners to courtrooms on floors 12 to 15.